Tiny Japanese restaurant opens at Pak Sha Wan with fixed menu at $1800 per head

An expensive Japanese restaurant has opened in a corner of Pak Sha Wan’s Pier Hotel overlooking the boat harbour. A 12-course dinner costs $1800 plus per head, while lunch, a more modest seven courses, will set you back $800 each.

WA Theater restaurant is — if you are standing on the Pak Sha Wan pier — in the far corner of the Pier Hotel overlooking the sea

Shigemasa Shibata, chief executive of WA Theater Company, said the restaurant is their first and it is intended to bring Japanese food and culture to Hong Kong. The Japanese Government is indirectly a shareholder.

Shigemasa Shibata, president and chief executive of WA Theater Company

Less than a month old, WA Theater restaurant is the first retail outlet to open in the Pier Hotel. Shigemasa’s staff told us the hotel opens on January 1. It is owned by the daughter of Francis Choi Chi-ming, known as the “King of Toys”.

Hideaki Nagaya acts as executive chef at the new restaurant, overseeing the “cooking of Japanese ingredients with French techniques”. Diners are given no choice: it’s 12 courses for dinner and that’s it. You don’t know what you are going to get because the food depends on what is seasonal in Japan. The evening menu is entitled “Trace of Winter Flowers”. You start with “Scenery of the Morning Mist” move on to “Art of the Master” then to — would you believe? — “Proust” on to “Taste of Happiness” and conclude with “Hope and Prayers”.

Shigemasa and Hideaki Nagaya, executive chef who is said to have led the culinary team at two Michelin-starred restaurants

Shigemasa said WA Theater company plans to open similar restaurants in multiple countries, one per nation, to export Japanese food and culture. The Sai Kung restaurant has just 29 seats plus a 10-seat private room upstairs. When you are standing on the Pak Sha Wan pier the restaurant is in the far corner of the Pier Hotel overlooking the sea.

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